MTR Report for Network Diagnostics

An MTR report (My Traceroute) combines ping and traceroute and shows packet loss and latency at every hop between your client and your server. This guide explains how to create one on Linux or with WinMTR on Windows, how to read it and what to send to the Server4You support team.

Why do we need an MTR?

A number of factors can affect your connection speed. An MTR report helps us pinpoint exactly where in the connection path a problem might be occurring.

1. Install MTR

First, install the MTR tool if it is not already available on your system.

Linux

Debian / Ubuntu

apt-get update apt-get install mtr

AlmaLinux / Rocky Linux

dnf install mtr

Windows

For Windows, we recommend WinMTR, a graphical version of the tool. You can download it for free from SourceForge: Download WinMTR

2. Run the MTR Report

To give our support team enough data to work with, the MTR test must run for at least 1000 packets.

Linux

Run the following command in your terminal. Replace DESTINATION_IP with the IP address you want to test.

Run MTR on Linux

mtr -r -c 1000 DESTINATION_IP

Windows (WinMTR)

1.Launch WinMTR

2.Enter the target IP address in the Host field

3.Click Start

4.Wait until the Sent column reaches 1000

5.Click Stop and then Copy Text to clipboard to capture the report

3. Understanding the MTR Report

The MTR output shows every hop between you and the destination server. The most important columns are Host, Loss% (packet loss), Avg (average latency), and Wrst (worst value).

Bidirectional reports are essential:

The path your data takes to our server is often completely different from the path it takes back to you — this is called asymmetric routing. A problem may only exist on the return path. Without reports in both directions, we cannot get a complete and accurate picture of the connection.

Packet loss rule:

A real network problem generally only exists when significant packet loss persists or increases across multiple consecutive hops — including the final destination.

Latency rule:

Look for a sudden spike in Avg latency that persists to the destination, or a Wrst value significantly higher than the average, indicating intermittent lag.

Examples: Good vs. Problematic

Interpreting Results

Hop 3 shows 50% packet loss — however, it does not continue to subsequent hops. The final destination (Hop 5) shows 0% loss.

Host	Loss%	Snt	Avg	Wrst
1. your-router.local	0.0%	1000	1.2	5.5
2. your-isp.net	0.0%	1000	5.5	15.2
3. some-backbone.net	50.0%	1000	10.2	20.1
4. another-peer.net	0.0%	1000	10.5	22.0
5. server4you.com	0.0%	1000	11.0	25.0

Conclusion: No issue. The loss at Hop 3 is caused by that router de-prioritizing ping requests. The network is healthy.

4. Submitting the Report to Support

When sending the report to our support team, please make sure to include the following:

✓The MTR report from your client to our server

✓The MTR report from our server back to your client

✓If possible, an MTR report between two of your Server4You servers

✓The date and time when you ran the reports

Experiencing network issues?

Submit your MTR report directly via the ticket system in your PowerPanel — our support team will analyze it promptly.

Open a Support Ticket